Gardening in North Otago 1st October 2013

October: This month is where chasing weeds becomes a full time job - Hoeing and hand pulling weeds is still the best option in planted areas. If you are clearing a garden to plant out for a summer show I suggest clear all annual weeds, pull out, or dig well under. Couch grass needs to be taken right out, get each long runner under the ground and any little pieces that may have been chopped with the spade, they grow and spread very fast if left, I spot spray Couch with round up now in badly effected areas. Once all obvious weeds are gone cover the area with organic compost, thick enough to keep the light from allowing any weed seeds left behind to germinate. Organic compost if cooked well will have been heated to the point of destroying seeds that it once contained. NOW plant,plant, plant! as many annuals and perennials as you can into the prepared area. They will grow really fast from now on and beat the weed seeds blown in or dropped by birds. Moisture and liquid feeding for new plantings is the key to success as they settle in and make new feeding roots, first thing in the morning is the best time to do this giving plants and dirt time to dry off before night, fungus thrives in damp ground on mild nights. Mulching is really important now as well, the areas mulched here with pea straw in late winter are holding the moisture around trees and shrubs and watering is not require yet . Pea straw looks ok in shrubberies but I do not use it in ornamental gardens where I plant annuals and find these non mulched gardens need weeded and watered often from now on. If you have not feed plants, roses or shrubs do it now, powered plant food should always be watered in, if you have home made compost ready to use add eight parts (by weight) blood & bone and one part sulphate of pot ash this will to add food and a flowering / fruiting component. I often mention using old stable manure around roses which they love and will keep them going over their long flowering period, ,ix with compost and spread around the drip line, watering will take it to the roots as required. Keep this compost / fertiliser at least a hand's- breadth from the trunks and steams and extend out just beyond the drip line enabling the food to be on the outer third of of this circle where the most active feeding roots are. Most of my Camellias are still flowering but once finished they can be trimmed and shaped, take out branches from the middle if your bush is dense and bushy. This lets the light in to help form next years buds.There should be enough gaps for a bird to fly through to allow good bud forming for next spring. Hosta's are starting to leaf now, so watch when working around them in the garden, it will not take much to knock the point off the new leaves, I have lilly of the valley popping up now as well and find I need to be careful working around clumps as well for the same reason, Give them a dressing of compost and blood & bone and the slug bate around hostas before they fully leaf up, keep them moist from now on and they will clump up and reward you well. Lillies are up and growing well, put stakes to tie them to in before they get higher and never let them dry out. Same for peony roses they do so much better growing up through holding stakes. I have been noticing a few cherry blossom trees with root stock branches being left to grow. By this I mean any branches that develop below the graft (where the branches begin at the top of the trunk); these should be cut off while still small. If they are allowed to develop into branches they will take over the whole tree because they are the root stock and will grow faster than the grafted stock. All flowering cherry trees are grafted onto a strong root stock of a very ordinary white blossom tree. If you have a tree with lovely pink or white blossom and you notice some blossom looks different then most likely it will be a branch growing from below the graft, cut it right out. Lawns are really going for it now and need fed often during their growing season, have some lawn fertiliser on hand for the next decent rain we get as this is the very best time to apply lawn fertiliser to established lawns. If applied in dry sunny weather it is likely to burn grass off. Don't fertilise newly struck grass, all fertilisers will be too strong. I planted grass seed a couple of weeks ago thinking the ground was warm enough now to get a strike, but no, I should have left it until October I have roughed the ground up a little and resown seed again in the bare patches left by the moss removal and grass grubs Vegetable garden The shops are full of veg, herb plants and seeds, tomatoes plants and seed potatoes, from now on it is so easy to grow your own food. If you do not have an existing vegetable garden but you do have a patch of vacant ground, clear it, dig it or rotary hoe it, edge it with what ever you have on hand , lime stone blocks, tree branches or sleepers. Spray the weeds around the outside of your edging so they will not encroach on your planting space then go for it, get planting at this time of the year everything will grow fast and grow well as long as you keep the water up and hoe the weeds away. Compost will be needed only on ground that had large tree's or hedges growing near by. Vacant soil should be rich enough to plant straight into once worked up. Corn and pumpkins need to be planted now to assure the long ripening season they need. Carrot seed planted now should mature before the carrot fly is on the wing again to lay the second generation of eggs in autumn. If carrot fly has been a real problem for you in the past I would cover rows with insect net once germinated from October until April which is the three generational life cycle of the carrot fly. I have been told Resistafly F1 hybrid Egmont seeds are less likely to be infested, plant seed with a little river sand to thin rows out. The fly is attracted to the carrot smell while flying low to lay her eggs so thinning out of carrots is almost like calling the flies. If it's a Herb garden you are keen to make dig some old stable manure and lime, all herbs like both. Why not plant up some mixed herb pots now and they will be ready to give as Christmas presents. Cheers, Linda